MOSCOW, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Russia was concerned about Egypt's stability and hoped to maintain long-term cooperation with Egypt under its new leadership, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday.
The region posed the most serious risk to international relations, Lavrov told reporters following a meeting with visiting Malaysian counterpart Anifah Aman, adding Egypt was the leading Arab country and its situation influenced developments in the entire Arab world.
Lavrov insisted Egyptian people should decide their fate themselves on the basis of intra-national inclusive dialogue.
"We hope the initiatives aimed at the start of such a dialogue, stabilization of the situation, implementation of the transitional period measures and preparation for free democratic elections, will be successful," the top Russian diplomat said.
Egyptian judge Adli Mansour was sworn in as interim president after the ouster of Mohamed Morsi. Mansour earlier approved a constitutional declaration for the transitional period, which is set to last six months.
Morsi was ousted by Egypt's military after millions of people took to the streets to protest his "poor performance" since he took office a year ago. The army then handed power to Mansour.
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